Indigenous to Samoa, ranging from the Cook Islands to tropical Africa. In Samoa, it occurs on ‘Upolu and Savai‘i in foothill to montane forest, reported at ca. 500 m elevation. No Samoan names or uses have been reported.

Epiphytic orchid creeping by means of a stout elongate rhizome bearing pseudobulbs at 5–6 cm intervals, these conical, 1.5–3.5 × 0.8–1.2 cm, one-leafed at the tip. Leaf simple, alternate; blade erect, oblong, 9–16 × 2–3.5 cm, cuneate at the base, obtuse at the tip; surfaces glabrous; margins entire; petiole 1.5–3 cm long. Inflorescence a suberect to spreading, 4–9-flowered umbel-like raceme up to 24 cm long, rachis 12–30 cm long; flowers elongate, creamy to yellow, blotched with red to purple, lip yolk-yellow to purple, ovary ca. 3 mm long. Sepals unequal, dorsal sepal concave, ovate, with long cilia apically, ca. 8 × 4–5 mm; lateral sepals ligulate, fused in upper two-thirds, 2.5–3 × 0.4–0.6 cm. Petals ovate, ciliate, 0.6–0.9 × 0.3–0.4 cm. Lip fleshy, ligulate, 4–5 × 2.5–3 mm, recurved; column ca. 3 mm long with apical down-curved stelidia; foot ca. 4 mm long. Fruit a capsule oblanceolate in outline, up to 5 cm long. Flowering reported in Samoa in March, fruiting in April, both in Fiji from April to December, but both probably occurring throughout the year.

Distinguishable by its epiphytic orchid habit; creeping rhizomes bearing pseudobulbs 1.5–3.5 cm high, these bearing leaves singly; 4–9-flowered false umbel on a peduncle 12–30 cm long; and showy cream to yellow flowers blotched with red to purple, with a yellow to purple lip.

SAVAII:

Whistler 1769—Epiphyte in lowland forest at “Ā‘opo west” forestry plot at 300 m elevation.

UPOLU:

Flynn 3600—Riparian forest east of Vaipū at 320 m elevation.

Whistler 1987—Epiphyte in foothill forest above Utumapu at ca. 375 m elevation.